Amityville Record

Pets, Pets, Pets


 

 

Now that Election Day is over, Governor Hochul has 400 pieces of legislation waiting for her signature or veto. One of the 400 is extremely important to those concerned about pet welfare. The Puppy Mill Pipeline bill, which will ban the retail sale of puppies, kittens and rabbits, passed as of June 3rd with bipartisan support in both the Senate and Assembly.

Sometime this week, please contact Governor Hochul at 518-474-8390, and politely ask her to continue her support of New York’s companion animals, and eventually their parents languishing in puppy mills everywhere, by signing Puppy Mill Pipeline bill A.4283/S.1130. Here’s why:

Since 2019, the Puppy Mill Pipeline Bill has been championed by Assembly member Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan) and Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens). This year the bill had over 90 NYS legislative co-sponsors.

Three parts to the NYS Puppy Mill Pipeline bill: 1) Prohibiting the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits by retail pet stores; 2) Authorizing space in the stores to showcase pets for adoption from shelters and humane organizations; 3) Disallowing nonprofit status to previously licensed pet dealers who are “puppy- laundering,” which means they are misrepresenting millers’ pets as “rescues.”

 

 

The current retail model of mills supplying retail stores with “live” merchandise is inhumane for many reasons that bear repeating:

1) No responsible breeder sells puppies to stores. Despite what the manager says about local or “top notch” puppies, breeders who care about canine welfare would never be so removed in the placement of their pups. Responsible breeders screen for genetic flaws, educate and interview potential owners, sell with spay/ neuter contracts and state they will take their pups back, if need be, for the lifetime of their dogs. The price of a well-bred dog from verified, documented, champion lines can be less than a poor quality pet store pup.

Pet store employees know nothing about individual breeds; they are only schooled in the hard sell. They leave naïve customers in a room with an adorable puppy. If buyers try to return the pup a day later, all they can get is store credit for a $3-$4,000 pup purchased impulsively.

2) Pup’s genetic background is an unknown. When you buy from a store, you are spending a bundle on a pup whose parents are a mystery. Since the poor parents are probably puppy mill stock, mostly from the Amish, Midwest or Eastern Europe, you have no proof the pup is cleared of genetic defects with OFA x-rays of hips and elbows, tests for clotting disorders, or screenings for PRA (a type of blindness). Responsible breeders do costly tests because they care about their pups and about improving their breed. Stores care only about profits. No store tracks liver shunts or other flaws to breed these defects out of their lines. Meanwhile, breed parent clubs contribute huge sums of money to veterinary studies trying to find and fix genetic problems in specific breeds.

3) Pup’s health is not guaranteed despite what your receipt says. Chances are your store pup and his parents missed out on routine medical care. At crowded mills, pups are exposed to diseases when nursed alongside hundreds more, taken from their mothers too early and shipped all over the US. Toy breed pups in transit often succumb to hypoglycemia. Puppies with pneumonia or chronic URIs languish in the back of the store, coughing out of sight. A few survive; some are sent back to brokers for refunds (where they’re usually euthanized) when they grow too big for the store to make a profit.

Your guarantee works like a trade-in, but you didn’t buy a car. Usually, the family gets attached to their pup that’s quite ill. When they find out how much treatment will cost, they take the dog back to have their guarantee honored. The store offers a “healthy” pup as a substitute; the original one gets shipped back to the puppy mill. Many buyers won’t agree to that so they are stuck with high vet bills even if their sick puppy dies.

4) Pups miss out on crucial early socialization. Experiences during the first 12 weeks are critical in shaping a pup’s social skills. Pups need to be desensitized to varied people, settings and noises. Behaviorists emphasize that pups separated from littermates before eight weeks old do not learn proper body language or etiquette, and often exhibit behavior issues later. Store puppies have a small saleable window of “cuteness,” so brokers rip them from their moms too young.

5) Pedigree papers can be fictitious. Pet store pups tend to be poor representations of their breed. Their size may stray from the accepted standard. Some stores or millers print their own pedigree papers, without registration numbers or birth dates of ancestors. Even AKC papers are not a health guarantee. Reputable breeders usually put titles, performance and show on their dogs. They can show ‘n’ tell the family tree. They know the grandparents’ temperaments and their causes of death. “Designer dogs” are mixes, not new breeds.

6) Puppy mill mother dogs are breeding machines. The abuses of puppy mills are hidden from the public. A single factory dog farm might have hundreds cramped in substandard conditions. Females are bred at their first heat and every heat after that until they can’t reproduce any more – typically around six or seven years old. Then they are dumped, sold at auction or killed.

7) Puppy mills deal in volume and minimize expenses to maximize profits. Matted breeders in puppy mills are kept in cages. Millers skimp on hygiene and nutrition. Teeth rot without dental care. Dogs lose limbs because cramped conditions spark fights, or legs are caught in wire mesh. Some millers use “red door feeders.” These hold seven days’ worth of kibble, and block the little view the dogs have from their cages. Workers only have to enter the building once a week. Puppy mill dogs don’t get human interaction when fed. Many live their whole lives never being caressed, touching grass or seeing sunshine.

Please call Governor Hochul today. With a stroke of her pen, she can make New York the sixth state to stop the sale of millers’ puppies, kittens and rabbits at pet stores in our state, and help close inhumane mill breeding facilities throughout our country.

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